Confidence in #NATO in sharp decline. #FinancialTimes

Public confidence in Nato has fallen sharply in the US and leading EU countries since US President Donald Trump came to office, according to new research highlighting the growing tensions over the future of the military alliance.The proportion of people who have a favourable view of Nato dropped at least 10 percentage points in the US, France and Germany between 2017 and 2019, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center.The results of the poll were released ahead of this week’s Munich Security Conference, an annual three-day gathering of world leaders, military chiefs, diplomats and spies that in recent years has been overshadowed by mounting strains in the transatlantic relationship.Established in 1949 to provide collective defence against the Soviet Union, Nato reinvented itself after the end of the cold war as a bulwark against Russian influence while also training and advising countries fighting terrorism such as Iraq and Afghanistan.